Have you ever heard a message on God’s Holiness? If it is like any of the messages that I have heard in the past it was probably presented in a way that was terrifying. It most likely sounded something like this: “you had better get yourself in order because we serve a Holy God and He can’t tolerate sin!”.
It is absolutely true that God is Holy, and it is absolutely true that God can not tolerate sin – and I thank God that He can not! Have you ever heard a message portraying God’s Holiness as a good thing? Have you ever stopped to consider that as a saved believer that His Holiness is a benefit for you? Today we will be studying why we can rejoice because God is Holy, and many people who have been afraid of this aspect of God will fear no more, but rejoice in His Holiness from now on.
Let’s start by reading Leviticus 11:44-45:
“For I am the LORD your God: you shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
For I am the LORD that brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
This is the verse that is often used to frighten the people when it is preached. Depicting a God that is unapproachable, for who among us can truly be holy but Jesus Christ?
Now as stated at the start of this study, it is entirely true that God is Holy, no sin can touch Him and no corruption can exist where He is. In a very real and honest sense as far as sin is concerned He is unapproachable. So what are we to do then? My friends, today I want to show you a very beautiful passage of scripture that wonderfully depicts the totality of what Christ Jesus has done for us, it is found in 1st Peter 1:13-25:
“Why gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
But as he which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy.
And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brothers, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and stays for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither, and the flower thereof falls away:
But the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached to you.”
Now that’s a lot of scripture we have just read, but it conveys such a wonderful message that it is greatly beneficial for us to spend time studying it.
First we see in verse 13 that the focus area for us is our mind, and the object which we are to be focusing on is the Grace of Jesus Christ. The next verse 14 tells us that this Grace is contrary to what we were formerly focused on in the days of our unsaved ignorance, which is our lusts (passions) and our own self.
We then notice that in verses 15 and 16 that the context here is precisely that of the previous area of scripture that we read in Leviticus 11:44-45. The very same verse is referenced and quoted here so that there can be no doubt or confusion.
Verse 17 proceeds to tell us that if we are saved (God is our Father) then we should be spending our time in worship and reverence to God – for that is the true meaning of the word “fear” used here in verse 17.
Now why is it exactly that we should be spending our time in worship if God is so Holy and unapproachable? Verse 18 gives us the answer: We have been redeemed! And not just redeemed by the efforts and strength of men; no. We see here in verse 18 a better type of redemption. We see in verse 19 that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ! Jesus the Christ is our spotless sacrificial lamb without any blemish. Think about it… If we were redeemed by the mere blood of an animal, it would only last a maximum of one year, because that’s what they had in the Old Testament. If it was the blood of a man, it would not cover because it is a sin to kill a human. Even if it was the sacrifice of an angel, it would not be perfect, because angels are still created beings, and a third of them fell. Oh, my friends, what we have here is the very best. What we have here is the blood of God Himself as our redemptive payment. A sacrifice so clean and pure and so very powerful that it never needs to be repeated ever again. God Himself has bled for you and for me, and we are cleansed!
We see in verse 20 that the very reason He manifested Himself on the earth was for us. This verse states it openly for all to see. Let it never be said that Jesus came for Himself or for His own glory, but He came for you and for me.
Verse 21 tells us that even the glory which Christ has is for our benefit, so that we would believe in Him and thereby be saved. Are you starting to see the picture here? That God loves us so much that everything He has done is based on and flows out of His magnificent love for us?
Now verse 22 says something very interesting. Only after showing us the unfailing, amazing love that God has for us, then it says “love one another with a pure heart.” There is a hidden gem here that I want to share with you. There are a lot of people out there that love with an impure heart. These are people loving from the source of themselves. But this verse gives us the key to pure love: receive the Divine love of God for yourself first, then you will be full of God’s love and you will love others from that overflow inside of you.
In verse 23 we also can observe the key to being born again, it comes by receiving the Word of God. God’s Word is eternal, timeless and true. Yet not everyone who claims the title of “Christian” has actually received the Word. To receive the Word of God, we must accept it by faith, without letting our “self” get in the way. Why? Look at the last two verses…
Verses 24 and 25 show us the true state of our self verses the eternal Word of God. Man’s self is corrupted and weak. Truly we are utterly bankrupt without Christ. To have reverence and respect for His Word is to accept it as the authority which it truly is – from God. This is the true heart transformation which God is after and not mere behavior modification which so many believers attempt, which counts for nothing in the end because it fails to recognize what Jesus Christ has done.
So how does all of this apply to God’s holiness? My friends, once we see how completely cleansed and saved and redeemed that we are in Christ Jesus, then we can realize an incredible truth. Yes we know that God is Holy and that no corrupt thing can be where He is. Well, His Spirit is in you! Look at Romans 8:11:
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.”
This verse states some amazing things. That it is the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Not a different or lesser spirit. Also that He dwells in us and quickens (revitalizes, regenerates and rejuvenates) our mortal bodies. This leaves absolutely no question as to the meaning of the verse here.
Today my friends, you can rejoice in the Holiness of God because of these wonderful truths and facts of scripture. You are so completely clean because of the eternal and Divinely perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ that God Himself – His very same Spirit – can dwell inside of you forever. And you have security because no corrupt thing can be where God is.
This is the marvelous work of Christ Jesus for you. And why did He do it? Because God loves you!
Now you have reason to rejoice! Give Jesus all glory and honor for what He has done. And rejoice, because God is Holy!